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When I saw pictures of the Essential Phone, my first thought was "Wow". The edge-to-edge display makes it look like a Samsung Galaxy S8 without the curved edge screen (which I'm personally not a huge fan of after owning the S7 Edge for some time).

But on closer inspection, I started to wonder if the Essential Phone was essentially an LG G6 with a reinvention of the LG G5's modularity and a current top of the line processor.

It appears to have a magnetic charging dock in addition to the standard USB-C charging port, a dual-sensor camera (one of them being a monochrome sensor, which they say works in conjunction with the colour sensor to let in more light for improved low-light photo results), and the latest non-standard screen aspect ration of 19:10.

Being someone who consumes a lot of media on my phone, I'm not loving the new trend of stretched aspect ratios. Black bars on each side of a video I'm watching isn't something I want to deal with. But considering the Essential phone's screen wraps right around the top centred front-facing camera, it looks like this space could be used exclusively for notifications... like the LG V10 and V20 phones.

Back to that modular design, the accessory they're promoting is a 360 degree camera which snaps on using a magnetic connection.

There's Bluetooth 5.0 on board and what looks to be all of the 4G worldwide bands covered, which is always nice to see. Though other specs such as the 4GB RAM and 128GB storage is looking a little run-of-the-mill. There's no mention of expandable storage either, which is a shame.

Lastly, the 3040mAh battery begs the question of what battery life will be like in real-world usage. Is this another flagship device that will be out of battery before you get home each day?

With a high-end dual camera setup, modular attachment functionality and a large 5.71" screen, all in a slim, 7.8mm thin, titanium package which promises improved durability over aluminium frame phones, the Essential Phone looks promising. But is there really enough to help it stand out from the crowd and become an essential purchase over other current flagship phones?

What do you think? Given this phone is said to start shipping in June, will it be your essential purchase?